States fail to measure performance of transportation dollars

The Pew Center on the States and the Rockefeller Foundation released their findings on how well states are measuring transportation development. During Fiscal 2010, states spent an estimated $131 billion on transportation in but most are unable to report on the returns from their investments.

The study was done at a time when members of congress are proposing a new surface transportation authorization act. The law would govern federal funding streams for states transportation systems.

The report found that there were major differences among states and their ability to link their spending to how well projects in those states were doing. There were varying levels of success in meeting six key goals in transportation: safety, jobs and commerce, mobility, access, environmental stewardship and infrastructure preservation.

Nicholas Turner is the Managing Director of the Rockefeller Foundation.  He says, in today’s economic times, it’s important that states have the ability to track returns on their transportation investments.

“In today’s every changing fiscal environment and with states spending billions of dollars on transportation, it’s critically important that every dollar delivers a strong return on tax payers investments and that these programs generate the best results and advance states economic growth,” Turner said.

Thirteen states - California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Washington - are leading the way in tracking their transportation advancements. Nineteen states trail behind, lacking systems to account for the return they’re getting from their investment in roads, highways, bridges and bus and rail systems. The other 18 states fall in the middle.

Robert Zahradnik is the Director of research for the Pew Center on the States and says there are a number of things states can do to improve.

”First the most obvious step is to improve the information and focus on results and make sure performance measures link to concrete goals, next states can use cost-benefit analysis and other economic tools to look at the economic impact of potential transportation spending and third states can bring performance measurement information clearly into the appropriations process,” Zahradnik said.

West Virginia falls within the 19 states that are falling behind. Zahradnik says there are reasons the state continues to have trouble tracking investments in its transportation systems.

“In the case of West Virginia where they’re specifically trailing behind in areas like mobility and environmental stewardship, that means they don’t have the essential tools, goals, performance measures and data to understand how their transportation investments are impacting congestion on the highways or how it’s impacting the environment in terms of greenhouse gases and other environmental concerns,” Zahradnik said.

Zahradnik says the fact that West Virginia is largely rural plays a role in why it is falling behind in access and mobility in transportation.

“West Virginia trails behind in mobility and has mixed results in the area of access and it actually doesn’t have performance measures and data to access it’s transportation progress in the area of mobility and in access it has some information, but it doesn’t have the full range of information,” Zahradnik said.

The Pew and Rockefeller study was conducted from September of 2010 to March of 2011. 

Google sets aside half a billion dollars for advertising probe

• Google in $13b legal fight over scanned books

Google says it has set aside $US500 million ($464m) to potentially settle US Justice department's probe into the company's online advertising practices, signaling yet another row with the regulators.

The charge reduced the net income to $US1.8 billion, or $US5.51 per share for the first quarter, Google said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The company reported net income of $US2.3 billion, or $US7.04 a share for the first quarter.

"In May 2011, in connection with a potential resolution of an investigation by the United States Department of Justice into the use of Google advertising by certain advertisers, we accrued $US500 million for the three month period ended March 31, 2011," Google said in the filing.

However, Google said the charge will not have a material adverse effect on the company's business, even as it warned that it cannot predict the ultimate outcome of the Department of Justice's investigation.

Google did not provide any further details about the investigation in the filing. The company declined to comment on the investigation when contacted.

The internet search giant has had antitrust setbacks. It walked away from a search deal with Yahoo in 2008 when the Justice Department signaled it was prepared to challenge it.

There have also been a series of complaints made to regulators, many from Google rivals which specialise in vertical searches like price comparison websites, which are widely seen as a threat to Google's position as a key gateway to online information.

Several of these have complained to US and European antitrust authorities that Google is seeking to hurt their business by making them hard to find in Google searches.

FDIC’s Bair Says U.S. Money Funds ‘Highly Unstable in a Crisis’

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair called money-market mutual funds “destabilizing” to the financial system and said investors would be served just as well if share prices floated.

“Money-market funds are maintaining a fiction of a stable” net-asset value, as shown by the September 2008 failure of the $62.5 billion Reserve Primary Fund, Bair said yesterday at a round-table meeting of fund-company executives and regulators arranged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington. “That is skewing investment dollars into a structure that is highly unstable in a crisis.”

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul A. Volcker called a floating share price the “simplest” solution to the risk posed by money funds, which trade at a constant $1 a share.

Their remarks lent support to proposals fund executives have said may ruin the product’s appeal to investors, and its role as the biggest collective provider of short-term financing for U.S. corporations through the commercial-paper market. Calls to make funds safer began after Reserve Primary’s collapse helped freeze global credit markets. The SEC, after passing rules last year that made funds more liquid and more transparent, is considering whether further changes are needed.

Representatives of Fidelity Investments, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and Federated Investors Inc. (FII), the three biggest money-fund providers, defended the business as popular among investors and crucial to the financing of U.S. companies and municipalities.

Capital Requirements

The industry has said bank-like regulations, including capital requirements or forcing funds to abandon their stable $1 share price, would destroy their appeal to customers while failing to prevent runs.

Money funds book their holdings based on their value at maturity and round to the nearest cent, allowing customers to buy and sell shares at $1. Returns are distributed monthly in cash or new shares.

Reserve Primary suffered a loss, initially set at 3 percent of assets, on debt issued by bankrupt Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., causing the fund to close on Sept. 16, 2008, and denying shareholders access to most of their cash for months as it liquidated.

Investors, fearing that other funds might “break the buck,” withdrew $230 billion from the industry by Sept. 19 in a run that threatened to cripple issuers of short-term debt.

Volcker has previously said the stable share price creates an incentive for investors to flee at the first sign of trouble.

Preventing Panic

The government in 2008 “had to run from one extreme action and safeguard to another” to prevent additional money-fund failures amid the panic, Volcker said at yesterday’s meeting.

“What is the public good that makes it worthwhile to run such a big risk?” he said.

The run on money funds that followed Reserve Primary’s collapse abated only after the Treasury Department guaranteed shareholders against losses and the Federal Reserve loaned money to purchase fund holdings at face value.

Robert Brown, head of Boston-based Fidelity’s money-market fund group, said rules already enacted by the SEC had made the industry better prepared to handle a run by investors. The changes forced funds to hold more in securities easily convertible to cash and to reveal more about their holdings.

“There is a great danger in looking at all sorts of mechanisms for reinventing the money-market fund business,” said John D. Hawke, of Washington law firm Arnold & Porter LLC, who represented Pittsburgh’s Federated. “The danger is that people who find money-market funds extremely useful will be denied the usefulness of those funds.”

Government ‘Subsidy’

The regulators at the forum examined two industry proposals for backing money funds with emergency liquidity. A plan put forward by the Investment Company Institute, the mutual-fund industry’s Washington-based trade group, was criticized for its provision that in a crisis funds should enjoy access to the Fed’s discount borrowing window.

“You are in effect asking for some kind of subsidy to be transferred from the federal government to the corporate sector and this is a distorting thing,” said Paul Tucker, deputy governor of the Bank of England.

U.S. Treasury Undersecretary Jeffrey A. Goldstein questioned whether the proposed facility’s size, $24 billion after 10 years, would be “even close to enough.”

Goldstein was one of six present representing the Financial Stability Oversight Council, the regulatory panel charged with addressing companies and activities that can endanger the U.S. economy. The council was created by last year’s Dodd-Frank Act.

To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Condon in Boston at ccondon4@bloomberg.net

How to get started with Forex

More and more people want to make money with foreign exchange. Some of them do forex trading for a living - but you have know how.

Foreign Exchange Trading - what is that? In fact the procedure is quite easy to understand: You change one currency against another, and profit from the exchange rate.

Forex Trading is exiting as the market is always in move and the rates are always changing. You trade currency pairs, and a slight difference in the exchange rate can make a profit or loss of several thousand dollars. Each currency pair has their own bid and ask  price. To make a profit you need to buy a currency pair and then sell it for a higher price later on. 

Isn't that a job for financial experts?

No. Everyone can learn forex trading from scratch. There are thousands of tutorials available on the internet and every forex broker provides you with sufficient teaching material - as they want their customers to become successful forex traders. 

How do I get started with Forex?

First of all you should register with a Forex Broker of your choice and open a demo account. Just pay attention to these 5 things:

• How high is the spread? The spread is the difference between bid and ask - this is what you have to pay your broker in order to get access to the forex market.
• How high is the leverage? As a beginner you will want to minimize the use of leverage. But as an experienced trader you can trade more money with a higher leverage. If the broker offers a leverage of 1:500, you can trade 500 times your deposit, which is not less than 500.000 with a deposit of 5.000!
• Is the broker regulated? The broker should be regulated by FSA or another institute.
• Can I trade commodities? If you want the ability to trade commodities in addition to currencies, see whether the . broker offers gold, silver, oil and precious metal  trading.
• How high is the minimum deposit? A private investor  doesn't need to open an institutional account with a minimum deposit of $50.000. There a many brokers available that offer accounts for $25 up to $500 for private investors. Try out these first.

Once you have familiarized with forex trading by trading with virtual money,  you can open a real account and trade with real money . Bear in mind that forex trading can in fact be very profitable but it is highly risky as well, and you only should trade money that you can afford to lose. Don't trade with money that you need to pay your rent.

Frank Eschmann lives and works in Germany. He is a professional daytrader and Introducing Broker. He founded his company in 2007 and shares his trading secrets on http://forexbroker-check.com/

FOREX-Euro dips, but weak US payrolls might sting USD

* Euro seen hemmed in by sovereign bids and offers
* Investors positioning for U.S. jobs data

* Dollar/yen up on Japanese buying after holidays

By Jessica Mortimer

LONDON, May 6 (Reuters) - The euro fell further against the dollar in thin trade on Friday after steep losses the previous day, as markets positioned for a key U.S. jobs report.

The euro EUR= dipped below 1.4500 after falling nearly 2 percent on Thursday to $1.4510, with further falls in oil prices leaving investors wary of buying back riskier assets. [O/R]

But the euro was expected to remain supported by expectations euro zone rates would continue to rise faster than U.S. ones, as the European Central Bank tries to tame high inflation.

"We've had a healthy correction in euro/dollar, but I don't think this is a sea change in sentiment and wouldn't expect it to move much below $1.45," said Paul Robson, currency strategist at RBS.

Market participants saw limited room for euro gains, however, and sovereigns were said to be looking to take profits after buying at lower levels, with offers seen at $1.4580-85.

The euro also faced resistance at its 21-day moving average around $1.4576.

The dollar was supported after jumping on a massive fall in commodities on Thursday. On Friday, Brent crude LCOc1 extended losses after diving 10 percent the previous day, while silver XAG= steadied from Thursday's 12 percent slump.

<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Graphic on commodity moves: r.reuters.com/nab49r

Dollar/commodity correlations: r.reuters.com/wex39r

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U.S. April non-farm payrolls, due at 1230 GMT, were forecast to rise 186,000, but some analysts said there was a risk of a weaker number given recent worse-than-forecast weekly jobless claims and private payrolls data. ECONUS [ID:nN05211728]

Analysts said a weaker reading would confirm the view that sluggish U.S. economic growth will hold the Federal Reserve back from raising interest rates in 2011 or even beyond as other central banks raise rates.

This would widen the rate differential between the dollar and other currencies, keeping the U.S. currency weak, they said.

The dollar index .DXY was little changed at 74.158, still well above a three-year trough of 72.696 hit this week.

IMPLIED VOLATILITY UP

The euro fell sharply on Thursday after ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet did not signal a June rate hike. Analysts said this showed investors had become overly bullish about the euro zone rates outlook and they were forced to pare back long euro positions. [ID:nLDE7440GG]

The euro gained some support early on Friday after ECB policymaker Ewald Nowotny said the bank's stance should not be interpreted as dovish. [ID:nHEL010146]

But it was slapped back down immediately, suggesting FX moves were getting erratic. Highlighting this was a rise in implied volatility, with one-month euro/dollar vol hovering around 12 percent EUR1MO= after jumping on Thursday.

"New moves could generate volatility, and another driver could come from the other side of the Atlantic with NFP data this afternoon," options analysts at SocGen said in a note.

The yen fell after a big rise the previous day, easing immediate concerns about possible further official intervention to stem its gains. Traders reported demand to sell yen from Japanese accounts as they returned from the Golden Week holiday.

The dollar was up 0.2 percent at 80.31 yen JPY=, bouncing from a seven-week low of 79.57 yen hit on Thursday and tackling resistance from the bottom of the Ichimoku cloud at 80.493.

Market players saw limited chances of intervention from Japanese authorities, let alone joint action by the Group of Seven countries, after Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said on Thursday that current forex moves appeared different from those seen when the G7 intervened in March. [ID:nL3E7G525S]

Major commodity currencies recovered, led by strong gains for the Australian dollar, which was up 0.85 percent at $1.0671 AUD=D4, benefiting after the Reserve Bank of Australia warned a further rate rise would be needed. [ID:nL3E7G607H]

(Additional reporting by Naomi Tajitsu; Editing by John Stonestreet)

* Euro seen hemmed in by sovereign bids and offers

Big Bank Backlash: From Coast to Coast People are Moving their Money

As the economy continues to stutter and new unemployment claims surge to an eight month high, it hasn't escaped the notice of people on Main Street that the folks on Wall Street are back in the black.

According to Fortune magazine, profits of the 500 largest U.S. corporations have surged 81 percent this past year. FORTUNE editors write, "We've rarely seen such a stark gulf between the fortunes of the 500 and those of ordinary Americans."

When Fortune is standing up for the workers, you know it's bad.

The Big Lie

As the United States splinters further into two worlds, the American people have not forgotten who got us into this mess in the first place. They are refusing to buy the big lie peddled by new Republican Governors, like Scott Walker in Wisconsin or John Kasich in Ohio, that greedy public sector workers are to blame for our economic woes. They know who inflated the housing bubble and played both sides with credit default swaps, and it wasn't teachers, firefighters or snowplow drivers.

From San Francisco to Wall Street people are taking to the streets reminding governors and their friends on Wall Street and that they remember very well who tanked the global economy putting more than 8 million Americans out of work and creating a revenue crisis for many states. Hundreds protested inside and outside the Wells Fargo shareholder's meeting in San Francisco this week, and the big bank backlash is gaining steam.

Cheeseheads Say Move Your Money from M&I Bank

Wisconsin State AFL-CIO is the latest in a wave of businesses, organizations, and individuals who are closing their accounts with M&I Bank. Yesterday the federation closed out a $100,000 CD it held at M&I. Taxpayers bailed out M&I with $1.7 billion of TARP funds. Instead of repaying the money, M&I executives and employees gave $54,000 in political contributions to Governor Scott Walker. Plus, M&I is planning on paying its failed executives $71 millions in bonuses this year when the bank is sold to the Canadian-owned Harris Bank and will close its Milwaukee headquarters.

Mark Furlong the CEO of M&I is scheduled to receive $24 million bonus package after the bank is sold. In a letter to Furlong, Stephanie Bloomingdale, Secretary-Treasurer, WI AFL-CIO puts it bluntly: "By contributing money to Scott Walker and other Republicans, you have taken part in the destruction of Wisconsin's middle class. As a company entirely dependent on American taxpayers for its survival, M&I owes its allegiance to those taxpayers... We care about our families and communities, while you care only about your bottom line. Here's our bottom line: We're moving our money."

The AFL-CIO joins the firefighters the teachers, church groups and hundreds of individual who have decided to chose a new bank. More actions are planned. If you are interested in moving your money, you can find a new bank or credit union at the Move Your Money site of the Huffington Post.

Buckeyes Tell JPMorgan Chase to Stop the Foreclosures

Ohioans will greet Jamie Dimon, "the most dangerous banker in the world," at JPMorgan Chase's annual shareholder's meeting in Columbus, OH. After taking $25 billion in TARP bailout money and after acquiring Bear Sterns and Washington Mutual, Jamie Dimon thinks that the big banks aren't big enough and neither is his bonus. In 2010, his total compensation topped $28 million.

Hard to imagine what the spinmeisters were thinking when they advised Dimon to flee Wall Street for Ohio. Ohio is one of the states hardest hit by the epidemic of foreclosures and joblessness caused by Wall Street. It is a state where unions have been under attack, and where hard-won labor rights that built the middle class have been stripped away from public sector workers. Next week National People's Action will release a study showing a projected one out of every ten homes in Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus received a foreclosure filing since the start of the housing crisis.

Wall Street firms have long been big backers of Kasich. According to Ohio Citizen Action, Chase employees gave $29,000 to Kasich's gubernatorial campaign.

"Protesters will deliver a message to Wall Street - it is time for big banks like JPMorgan Chase to stop the foreclosures, pay their fair share, create jobs, and end the revenue crisis," says Adam Keck, Senior Organizer, Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative.

You are invited to join the Buckeyes in Columbus on May 17th and you can find more information at: Showdown in America.

The Madison-based Center for Media and Democracy tracks corporate spin and spinmeisters at PRWatch.org.

Kraft Foods Inc. Reports Operating Results (10-Q)

Kraft Foods Inc. (KFT) filed Quarterly Report for the period ended 2011-03-31.

Kraft Foods Inc. has a market cap of $58.38 billion; its shares were traded at around $33.39 with a P/E ratio of 16.6 and P/S ratio of 1.2. The dividend yield of Kraft Foods Inc. stocks is 3.4%. Kraft Foods Inc. had an annual average earning growth of 2.3% over the past 5 years.

Highlight of Business Operations:

On February 2, 2010 we acquired 71.73% of Cadbury Limited (“Cadbury”) and as of June 1, 2010 we owned 100% of all outstanding Cadbury Shares. The Cadbury acquisition was valued at $18,547 million, or $17,503 million net of cash and cash equivalents.

As part of our Cadbury acquisition, we expensed and incurred transaction related fees of $203 million in the first quarter of 2010. We recorded these expenses within selling, general and administrative expenses. We also incurred acquisition financing fees of $96 million in the first quarter of 2010. We recorded these expenses within interest and other expense, net.

Cadbury contributed net revenues of $1,693 million and net earnings of $60 million from February 2, 2010 through March 31, 2010. The following unaudited pro forma summary presents Kraft Foods’ consolidated information as if Cadbury had been acquired on January 1, 2010. These amounts were calculated after conversion to accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”), applying our accounting policies, and adjusting Cadbury’s results to reflect the additional depreciation and amortization that would have been charged assuming the fair value adjustments to property, plant and equipment, and intangible assets had been applied from January 1, 2010, together with the consequential tax effects. These adjustments also reflect the additional interest expense incurred on the debt to finance the purchase.

Integration Program costs include the costs associated with combining our operations with Cadbury’s and are separate from the costs related to the acquisition. We incurred charges under the Integration Program of $104 million for the three months ended March 31, 2011 and $43 million for the three months ended March 31, 2010. We recorded these charges in operations, as a part of selling, general and administrative expenses primarily within our Kraft Foods Europe and Kraft Foods Developing Markets segments, as well as general corporate expenses. Since the inception of the Integration Program, we have incurred $761 million of the $1.5 billion in expected charges. At March 31, 2011, we had an accrual of $406 million related to the Integration Program.

Our effective tax rate was 33.2% for the first quarter of 2011 and 57.2% for the first quarter of 2010. The effective tax rate was impacted by discrete items in both years. The 2011 first quarter effective tax rate was favorably impacted by net discrete items totaling $5 million, arising principally from net favorable state and foreign audit settlements and the expiration of the statute of limitations in various foreign jurisdictions. The 2010 first quarter effective tax rate was unfavorably impacted by $72 million of net tax costs, primarily due to a $137 million write-off of deferred tax assets as a result of the U.S. health care legislation enacted in March 2010, partially offset by favorable one-time tax impacts of highly inflationary accounting adjustments related to our Venezuelan subsidiaries and favorable foreign audit settlements.

The increase in net revenues was primarily driven by the Cadbury acquisition, which added $697 million in net revenues. Favorable foreign currency increased net revenues by $121 million, due primarily to the strength of the Brazilian real, Canadian dollar, Australian dollar and British pound versus the U.S. dollar, partially offset by the strength of the U.S. dollar against the euro and the impact of the highly inflationary Venezuelan economy. These gains were partially offset by the impact of divestitures (including Starbucks CPG business). Additionally, increased organic net revenues were driven by higher net pricing and favorable volume/mix. Higher net pricing was reflected across all reportable business segments as we increased pricing to offset higher input costs. Favorable volume/mix was driven by higher base business shipments across all reportable business segments, except U.S. Grocery and U.S. Convenient Meals.

Read the The complete Report

More about KFT: Guru Trades, 10-Year Financials, DCF Calculation, 10-Year Valuations

Let the Crowd Buy Equity in Private Companies

The SEC should change its rules to permit entrepreneurs to use crowdfunding to sell equity. The risk would be no greater to investors than that posed by accepted online lending models

By Scott Shane

Entrepreneurs can use peer-to-peer lending sites such as Prosper and LendingClub to obtain loans for their businesses without worrying about breaking securities laws. But they cannot take a similar approach to selling equity in their companies online. Selling interests in the financial returns of a business must be registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or meet the criteria for exemption from registration, according to rules established about eight decades ago. Even if the entrepreneurs seeking to raise money by soliciting others online don't care if the money they obtain is a gift, a loan, or an equity investment, those distinctions matter to the SEC.
Now the SEC is considering making regulatory changes that would allow entrepreneurs to raise modest amounts of equity through online crowdfunding, according to a recent letter from SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro to Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. I applaud Schapiro because her changes to the Depression-era rules would make a lot of sense by giving capital-constrained entrepreneurs a further source of equity funding.
Every year venture capitalists and accredited business angels invest in only about 15,000 of the 27.5 million businesses in operation in the U.S., according to my analysis. Many new businesses being started in the U.S. every year could use small amounts of external equity. Analysis by sociologist Paul Reynolds in the Entrepreneurship in the United States Assessment, a survey of American adults undertaken in 2004, shows that a typical new business has only about $15,000 in initial funding, of which $6,000 comes from the entrepreneur.
Under current SEC regulations, equity crowdfunding isn't feasible. SEC registration costs tens of thousands of dollars, according to the Sustainable Economies Law Center, a nonprofit legal research group. That's much more money than most users of crowdfunding intend to raise. Indeed, the two main exemptions to registration aren't appropriate for crowdfunding. Rule 506, most commonly used to exempt companies raising money from accredited angel investors, bars them from making a "general solicitation" for funds. But the online social networking process underlying crowdfunding arguably is just that—a general solicitation open to the public. Even if "general solicitation" were not a concern, Rule 506 limits the number of nonaccredited investors that may participate. The other major rule for equity investors, Rule 504, exempts general solicitation, but offerings that proceed under it are subject to state securities regulation, compliance with which is again prohibitively costly if companies are seeking to raise only small amounts of money.

Why Not Exempt $100 Contributions?

Allowing entrepreneurs to raise equity online will impose no more risk on funders than they currently face lending money to entrepreneurs online. Last year the Sustainable Economies Law Center asked the SEC to exempt equity crowdfunding efforts of $100,000 or less, with no more than $100 to come from any individual. Allowing investors to purchase such tiny amounts of equity in other people's companies doesn't seem to impose a significant risk of financial loss on individuals.
It's also unlikely that fraudsters would find crowdfunding an appealing model. As equity crowdfunding advocate Paul Spinrad explains on the website Crowdfundinglaw.com: "Scammers rely on isolating and pressuring their marks for large amounts of money, but crowdfunding solicitations ask for peanuts and they are open, driven by word-of-mouth, and widely-seen. They originate within an offerer's personal connections or community of interest, and potential supporters are free to research and discuss the pitches on their own time, using any tools at their disposal."
Current efforts to accommodate existing SEC rules may actually create more risks for investors than if the SEC were to simply allow entrepreneurs to raise equity capital through crowdfunding. Companies such as Growvc structure themselves as clubs in which membership fees are pooled to invest in entrepreneurs raising money. But Mike Butcher, writing last year on TechCrunch, says this approach leaves investors exposed if the portfolio company should need to restructure or receive investments outside the crowdfunding platform it used originally.
In short, the benefits of allowing entrepreneurs to raise equity through crowdfunding outweigh the cost. In many ways, crowdfunding is merely a way to broaden the concept of friends and family investing in people they are linked to on Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social networks. I don't know how likely the SEC is to permit equity crowdfunding. But given the difficulties many entrepreneurs have faced over the past several years in obtaining capital to build their businesses, I think it's time for the agency to permit its use to raise small amounts of equity capital.

Scott Shane is the A. Malachi Mixon III Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies at Case Western Reserve University.

Midwest economy: State-by-state glance for April

The Institute for Supply Management, formerly the Purchasing Management Association, began formally surveying its membership in 1931 to gauge business conditions.

The Creighton Economic Forecasting Group uses the same methodology as the national survey to consult supply managers and business leaders. Creighton University economics professor Ernie Goss oversees the report.

The overall index ranges between 0 and 100. Growth neutral is 50, and a figure greater than 50 indicates an expanding economy over the next three to six months.

Here are the state-by-state results of the April survey in the Mid-America region:

Arkansas: The state index advanced for the sixth time in the past seven months to a regional high of 74.7, up from March's 71.8. Components of the index were new orders at 86.5, production or sales at 87.0, delivery lead time at 69, inventories at 60.4, and employment at 70.5. "An improvement in the state's economy has encouraged new entrants into the work force. As a result, the state's unemployment rate has leveled off at an acceptably high rate," Goss said.

Iowa: For the 16th straight month, the overall index climbed above growth neutral 50 to 69.7, up from March's 67.9. Components were new orders at 79.4, production or sales at 71.9, delivery lead time at 69, employment at 65.1, and inventories at 63.1. "The weak dollar has been especially good for Iowa's manufacturing sector, particularly producers closely tied to international markets or agriculture. The weak dollar policy of the Fed will continue to bolster Iowa manufacturing and the overall state economy," Goss said.

Kansas: The overall index rose to 58.4 from 55.1 in March. Components of the index were new orders at 58, production or sales at 54.7, delivery lead time at 67.6, employment at 65.1, and inventories at 63.1. "Firms tied to international markets and agriculture continue to report very healthy growth. However, aircraft and aerospace parts producers in the state report pullbacks in economic activity as higher fuel prices cut into sales and new orders," Goss said.

Minnesota: The index fell to 60.9 from 67.9 in March. Components of the index for April were new orders at 65, production or sales at 65.9, delivery lead time at 60.4, inventories at 57.2, and employment at 56.2. Durable goods manufacturing continues to benefit from healthy international sales and new orders, Goss said, while computer and electronic component manufacturers and food producers also reported upturns.

Missouri: The index dropped to 57.2 from 59.8 in March. Components were new orders at 56.1, production or sales at 58.1, delivery lead time at 61.2, inventories at 55.8, and employment at 55. Durable goods manufacturers reported much healthier business activity than nondurable producers, while food processing firms reported downturns stemming from significantly higher input prices, Goss said.

Nebraska: The index slipped to 54.4 from March's 58.9. Components were new orders at 56.7, production or sales at 56, delivery lead time at 54.7, inventories at 51.2, and employment at 53.6. "The cheap dollar has been an important stimulant to the Nebraska economy. Firms tied to international markets or agriculture are experiencing rapidly improving business activity," Goss said.

North Dakota: The index fell to 56.1 from 56.3 in March. Components were new orders at 54.7, production or sales at 49.5, delivery lead time at 69.5, employment at 42, and inventories at 64.7. "North Dakota is benefiting from growth in both energy prices and agriculture commodity prices," Goss said. "As long as the dollar does not rebound, the state's economy will continue on a solid growth path." The Federal Reserve's weak dollar policy has been positive for the state's economy, Goss said.

Oklahoma: The state index dipped to a still robust 68.8 from 76.1 in March. Components were new orders at 74.3, production or sales at 71.2, delivery lead time at 76.8, inventories at 64.8, and employment at 57.1. "High energy prices are fueling economic expansion in the state," Goss said. "Durable goods manufacturers linked to international markets or energy are experiencing solid growth."

South Dakota: The index declined to a still-healthy 61.2 from March's 64.5. Components were new orders at 68.1, production or sales at 68.3, delivery lead time at 45.8, inventories at 56.1, and employment at 67.9. "Manufacturers in the state tied to agriculture and international markets continue to report solid upturns in sales, new orders and jobs," Goss said. "This expansion will drive overall economic growth in the state in a positive direction for the next three to six months."

Exxon reports $11 billion in first quarter earnings as prices rise at the pump

NEW YORK -- Exxon earned nearly $11 billion in the first quarter, a performance likely to land it in the center of the national debate over high gasoline prices.

The world's largest publicly traded company said Thursday that higher oil prices boosted profits 69 percent from a year ago. The result was Exxon's best since earning a record $14.83 billion in 2008's third quarter.

Wall Street had been expecting sharply higher earnings for oil companies. Oil prices rose 17 percent in the quarter.

But huge oil profits will aggravate drivers with gasoline prices averaging $3.89 per gallon nationally. President Obama wants to cut into some of those earnings by eliminating $4 billion in taxpayer subsidies for oil companies.

Exxon is taking steps to dilute any potential furor over the results. On a company blog Wednesday, the company said that it has little control over the price of oil, which is now near $113 per barrel.

It also noted that less than 3 cents of every dollar it earns comes from the sale of gasoline and diesel fuel.

That may not appease many motorists and politicians, however. The price of a gallon of gas is already above $4 in 8 states and the District of Columbia.

And on Thursday, the Commerce Department said economic growth slowed sharply in the first quarter, partly because of high gas prices.

On the blog, Ken Cohen, Exxon Mobil Corp.'s vice president of public and government affairs, said the company was anticipating "the inevitable headlines and sound bites about high gasoline prices and what to do about them" after the earnings were reported. In addition to the routine post-earnings conference call with analysts, Exxon is making Cohen available this afternoon for a separate call with members of the media.

Exxon's results followed strong profit gains by other oil companies.

Europe's largest oil company, Royal Dutch Shell PLC, reported $8.78 billion in first-quarter profits, up 60 percent from a year ago. BP PLC's quarterly earnings rose 16 percent to $7.2 billion. ConocoPhillips said net income grew 43 percent to $3 billion and Occidental Petroleum Corp. said earnings climbed 46 percent to $1.55 billion.

Chevron Corp., the second-biggest U.S. oil company, is expected Friday to report a 25 percent increase to $5.69 billion.

Argus Research analyst Phil Weiss said oil companies will struggle to win over people as long as they're making billions of dollars every quarter, even though he thinks the industry makes a reasonable argument.

"They really don't have a lot of control" over the price of gasoline, Weiss said. "But then they get these high profits and people get upset. That's what politicians respond to."

Exxon reported net income of $10.65 billion, or $2.14 per share, for the first three months of the year. That compares with $6.3 billion, or 1.33 per share a year ago. Revenue increased 26 percent to $114 billion.

The results beat Wall Street estimates of $2.04 per share on sales of $112.6 billion, according to FactSet. Shares fell for Exxon and other oil companies, however, on expectations for a continued drop in U.S. gasoline demand. On Wednesday, the Department of Energy said demand for gasoline over the past four weeks was 1.6 percent lower than a year earlier.

Exxon shares lost 44 cents to $87.34 in morning trading.

Exxon increased earnings even though it produced less oil and natural gas liquids. Benchmark crude prices rose 20 percent from a year ago.

The company has increasingly focused on producing natural gas. Exxon expects natural gas to displace coal as the second most important fuel source within the next decade. Last year it acquired XTO Energy to become the largest U.S. natural gas producer.

Exxon's natural gas output rose 24 percent in the quarter, but prices declined as other companies followed its lead and rushed to develop underground shale gas deposits in North America. Natural gas prices fell nearly 16 percent from a year ago.

Earnings grew across the company's business segments. Income from its exploration and production business gained 49 percent to $8.7 billion while the company's downstream business, which includes refineries, posted a huge 30-fold jump to more than $1.1 billion.

FOREX-Dollar off 3-year lows but still vulnerable

* Short dollar positions prompt rebound; rally unlikely

* Sterling slumps; weak data casts doubt on rate hikes

(Recats, adds comment, updates prices, changes byline)

By Steven C. Johnson

NEW YORK, May 3 (Reuters) - The dollar on Tuesday rebounded from a three-year low as investors booked profits after four weeks of steady selling, but traders said the respite was likely to be brief because of an extended run of low U.S. interest rates.

The Australian dollar moved further away from a post-float high above $1.10 and sterling fell after weak factory data cast doubt on when the Bank of England would lift interest rates.

The European Central Bank raised rates last month for the first time since 2008 and is expected to do so again this year, though traders expect it to stand pat when it meets this week.

Traders said these developments coupled with the speed of the dollar's decline -- it has lost almost 8 percent against major currencies this year, losing nearly 4 percent in April -- prompted investors to unwind some bets against the currency.

"The market is exceptionally short and the dollar's move lower over the past few weeks has been so exceptionally quick that it simply couldn't continue like that," said David Watt, senior currency strategist at RBC Capital Markets.

The dollar was up 0.2 percent at 73.100 against a basket of major currencies .DXY after falling to a three-year low of 72.722 on Monday. It hit a record low of 70.698 in 2008.

Some analysts have tied the retreat of higher-yield currencies and assets such as oil and other commodities to fears of reprisal after U.S. special forces killed Osama bin Laden, but Watt said that sounded like "an excuse to take profits."

The dollar hit a record low at 0.8615 Swiss francs CHF= and shed 0.6 percent to trade at 80.71 yen JPY=. The Swiss and Japanese currencies often rise when risk appetite fades.

But the dollar hardly looks ready to stage a sustained rally, analysts said, particularly with the U.S. central bank hinting that interest rates will remain at zero for some time and with markets fretting about the U.S. ability to get a yawning federal budget deficit under control.

Emerging market currencies, which unlike some majors are far from overvalued against the dollar, will also continue to appreciate, which will keep the dollar under pressure.

"The backdrop hasn't changed, and there's really no trigger for a sustained (dollar) rally," Watt said.

After falling as low as $1.4751 overnight, the euro was last at $1.4820 EUR=, unchanged on the day and within striking distance of Monday's 17-month high above $1.49.

BNP Paribas strategists said the euro could retreat below $1.47, at which point traders "may well be able to look for even better levels to re-set dollar shorts" ahead of Thursday's ECB policy meeting and Friday's U.S. employment data.

Hawkish comments about inflation from the ECB and any sign of slower U.S. job growth on Friday could reignite dollar selling, they said.

"It's very much a case of buying the dips in euro/dollar at these levels. Rate hike expectations are anchoring the euro," said Chris Walker, currency strategist at UBS in London.

<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Reuters Breakingviews column on [ID:nLDE7420PW] ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>

Sterling fell to its lowest level since March 2010 against the euro at 89.80 pence EURGBP=D4 after a survey of UK manufacturing came in below market expectations. The pound also fell 0.9 percent to $1.6493. [ID:SLATFE7TP]

The Australian dollar fell 0.6 percent at $1.0878 AUD=D4 after the central bank kept rates at 4.75 percent as expected and sounded a bit less hawkish than expected. [ID:nL3E7G2094]

The Canadian dollar CAD= pared gains after a brief relief rally as Canada's ruling Conservatives won a crushing victory in the federal election. [ID:nN02265133]

(Additional reporting by Neal Armstrong in London; editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

* Dollar index up on day but in sight of 3-yr lows

MONEY MARKETS-Demand for U.S. bills produces record low yield

* Short-dated bills in short supply

* $28 billion four-week bill auction draws strong demand

By Ellen Freilich

NEW YORK, May 3 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury's 52-week bill sale produced the lowest yield on record for a one-year bill auction, evidence of the demand for short-dated bills.

The Treasury's $28 billion four-week bill auction also drew strong demand, with the 4.81 ratio of bids received over those accepted a significant improvement from last month.

"In spite of yields approaching zero, the market bid aggressively in (the four-week) auction," said Thomas Simons, money market economist at Jefferies & Co. in New York.

Simons said short-dated bills are in short supply. Since many investors cannot buy bills at negative yield levels, secondary trading has been light. As a result, these investors must "bid aggressively in auctions to take any positive yield they can find, scant as it may be," he said.

RECORD LOW YIELD IN ONE-YEAR BILL AUCTION

The Treasury said the 0.2 percent yield on the 364-day bill it sold on Tuesday was the lowest ever for a one-year bill. [nWAT015084]

"The long end of the bill curve has been slower to react to the new FDIC rules enacted in the beginning of April, but yields have declined steadily in recent weeks," Simons said.

The recent move by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to charge banks insurance fees based on their total asset size roiled the short-term rates market last month, leaving funding markets short of collateral.

The aggressive bid for the one-year bill auction Tuesday, despite the record low yield, "is likely an indication that the bid will continue to hold firm," Simons said.

Jim Vogel, interest rate strategist at FTN Financial in Memphis, Tennessee, said the auction results were positive for the bond market.

"People do not expect a big increase in yields even after the debt ceiling situation is resolved," he said. "That's not going to change fundamentally any time soon."

In Europe, traders awaited the European Central Bank's meeting on Thursday, trying to figure out the future course of monetary policy.

Money markets were split over whether to price in an interest rate rise in June, after being close to doing so after the ECB's April meeting. Those bets are fading due to a strong euro and talk of a Greek debt restructuring.

Investors expect the ECB to leave interest rates unchanged at 1.25 percent this week. [nLDE7420ZV]

"The Fed is constantly dovish and ... we have weaker activity data in the UK and the risk that we may have seen the top in UK inflation rates," said Alessandro Tentori, rate strategist at BNP Paribas.

Euro overnight index swaps price in two more rate increases by the end of the year, with significant chances of a third. [ECBWATCH]

A Reuters poll showed 17 of 74 analysts expected an ECB rate rise in June, compared with 44 in July. [ECB/INT] (Additional reporting by Richard Leong in New York and Marius Zaharia in London; Editing by Leslie Adler)

* 52-week bill sale produces lowest yield on record

Recovery efforts could speed dollar’s decline

The U.S. government has pulled out all the stops to try to get the economy back on track following the Great Recession: It is running a huge budget deficit, the financial sector has been bailed out, and the Federal Reserve is keeping interest rates ultra-low.

But these very efforts to get the economy going again create risks of their own. One of the biggest is that the value of the dollar could decline in ways that are abrupt and disruptive.

The dollar has already been drifting gradually downward as a result of large U.S. trade and budget deficits and the growing economic might of the rest of the world. It is down 36 percent against six other major currencies over the past decade — and was down even more before the 2008 financial crisis prompted fearful investors to plow money into dollars.

The downward trend is likely to continue over the years as the other economies continue to catch up with the United States. The risk now is that large U.S. budget deficits, a lack of political consensus over how to reduce them and the Fed’s low interest rate policies will transform the slow decline into a precipitous fall.

“There is an ongoing very gradual diversification away from the dollar,” said Barry Eichengreen, an economist at the University of California at Berkeley and author of “Exorbitant Privilege,” about the unique role of the dollar in the world economy. “That movement could be very significantly hastened if foreigners grow concerned about deficits as far as they eye can see and the pressure the Fed will feel not to normalize the level of interest rates, resulting in inflation.”

For the moment, both the dollar and U.S. Treasury securities are trading at prices that reflect investor confidence in the future of the greenback. The dollar is still the preferred currency for a vast array of transactions, even many that take place outside of the United States and don’t involve Americans. Nations around the world put their rainy-day savings, known as reserves, into dollars, and investors pour money into U.S. Treasury bonds whenever the economic outlook becomes unnerving.

But that arrangement might not last forever.

The euro has already emerged as a competitor. The currency is in use across 17 European economies that together are roughly equal to that of the United States. Despite recent financial crises in several of those countries, the euro has rallied 15 percent against the dollar since mid-January, in part because the European Central Bank has been more willing to raise interest rates than the Fed.

China’s currency could emerge as a global rival to the dollar in the years to come if Chinese officials accelerate their recent moves to ease control over how the renminbi is used and allow its value to better reflect market forces. The prospects for the Japanese yen look less promising, especially because Japan’s debt is even larger than that of the United States relative to the size of their economy.

“You can view the dollar in isolation and work yourself up into a lather that this is really a dismal outlook with the in­trac­table U.S. budget problems and a sense that in the long run the only way out will be inflation,” said Desmond Lachman, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. “But you have to look at what’s happening in Europe, and what’s happening in Japan and ask yourself, against what is the dollar really going to be depreciating.”

History is full of examples of countries where large budget deficits eventually lead investors to lose faith, causing the currency to tumble. The Asian financial crisis, which rocked the likes of Thailand, Singapore, and South Korea in the late 1990s, is but one recent example.

If, suddenly, global investors lost confidence in the value of the dollar, they would demand higher interest rates to lend money to the U.S. government. That could make it more expensive for the government to continue financing its debts, aggravating the budget crisis further.

Carmen Reinhart, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics who studies financial crises, said a rapid decline in the dollar is not likely. But she noted that the meltdown of global financial markets in 2008 would also have seemed unlikely two years earlier.

“The improbable does happen,” she said.

Reihnart warned that treating the prospect of a dollar collapse as unlikely could actually help it happen. If elected officials don’t develop a plan for bringing down budget deficits over time, for example, it could make a rapid loss of confidence in the dollar more likely.

Ask the British. Just a century ago, the pound was the dominant currency used for global trade and London the financial capital of the world. But over just a decade, from 1914 to 1924, the dollar supplanted the pound as the leading global currency as the British took on massive debts to pay for waging World War I and the United States created the Federal Reserve and with it a more stable banking system.

Eichengreen has studied this pivotal decade and highlights its lessons for today.

“There’s not going to be a massive flight away from the dollar all at once, because there’s nowhere to flee to,” he said. “But this ongoing process of moving away from the dollar will be accelerated by doubts about whether U.S. policy is being conducted in a responsible way.”

Yen, Franc Rise Versus Major Peers as Stocks, Commodities Fall

May 3 (Bloomberg) -- The yen and the Swiss franc rose against all of their most-traded counterparts as investors sought the currencies’ relative safety amid declines in equities and commodities.

The dollar erased gains against the euro as stocks trimmed losses after a report showed U.S. factory orders rose more than forecast. Canada’s dollar fluctuated after rising earlier as Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservatives won a majority of seats in Parliament for the first time.

“It’s somewhat of a risk-off day, and the more defensive currencies are outperforming,” said Paul Mackel, a currency strategist at HSBC Holdings Plc in London. “Some people have been looking at how crowded it was getting to be in terms of short dollars, so you’re seeing some risk being taken off the table.” A short is a bet a currency will fall.

The yen appreciated 0.1 percent to 120.33 per euro at 11:36 a.m. in New York. Japan’s currency gained 0.4 percent to 80.91 yen per dollar after appreciating to 80.70, the strongest since March 23. The greenback fell 0.4 percent versus the European common currency to $1.4886 after depreciating yesterday to $1.4902, the weakest level since December 2009.

The Swiss franc gained 0.5 percent to 86.06 centimes per dollar and strengthened 0.2 percent to 1.2803 per euro.

The dollar earlier strengthened from a 16-month low against the euro on speculation the European currency’s gains this year may not be sustained.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index declined 0.2 percent after dropping 0.5 percent earlier.

Factory Orders Rise

Orders placed with U.S. factories rose 3 percent in March, a fifth consecutive increase, the Commerce Department said today. The median forecast of 66 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News projected a 2 percent increase.

The yen typically strengthens in times of political, financial and economic turmoil. Japan’s trade surplus makes the currency attractive because it means the nation doesn’t have to rely on overseas lenders. The dollar benefits as the world’s main reserve currency. Financial markets in Japan are shut today for a holiday.

Crude oil for June delivery was down 0.9 percent to $112.56 a barrel in New York, and the Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of raw materials fell 0.3 percent

The Canadian dollar was up 0.1 percent to 94.97 U.S. cents after dropping as much as 0.4 percent and gaining as much as 0.5 percent. Raw materials account for about half of Canada’s export revenue.

Earlier the Canadian currency gained 0.5 percent and rose against most of its 16 most-active counterparts as Harper won a majority of seats in Parliament, giving him a mandate to fund corporate and personal income tax cuts with curbs on spending.

Brazil’s Real

Brazil’s real erased an earlier decline of 0.4 percent to trade at 1.5862 per dollar, up 0.2 percent.

The Australian and New Zealand dollars slipped for a second day. Commodities make up a majority of exports for the two South Pacific nations.

“With a commodity unwind, commodity currencies will come under pressure,” said Tim Kelleher, vice-president of institutional banking and markets at Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Auckland.

Australia’s dollar declined 0.3 percent to $1.0916 after rising to $1.1012 yesterday, the strongest since its free float in 1983. New Zealand’s dollar, nicknamed the kiwi, fell 0.2 percent to 80.47 U.S. cents.

The Aussie remained lower after the Reserve Bank of Australia left the overnight cash rate target at 4.75 percent at a policy meeting today. The RBA’s decision was forecast by 21 of 22 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Sterling Drops

The pound was the worst performer among major currencies, dropping as an index of U.K. manufacturing growth declined. Markit Economics and the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply index fell to 54.6 in April from 56.7 in March.

Sterling weakened 1.19 percent to 89.98 pence per euro and touched 90.07, the weakest since March 29, 2010. It slid 0.8 percent to $1.6528.

Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said high debt levels pose “massive” economic challenges that would be exacerbated by increased long-term interest rates.

“The market continues to price out the chance of a rate hike before the end of August,” said Stephen Gallo, head of market analysis at Schneider Foreign Exchange in London. The delay in an interest rate increase will cause a “selloff in the pound.”

Bank of England policy makers are split four ways over monetary policy. The central bank probably will leave the key interest rate at a record-low 0.5 percent at the next rate meeting on May 5, according to a Bloomberg News survey.

Reprisal Concern

Refuge currencies also gained amid concern that reprisal attacks would follow the death of Osama bin Laden. U.S. and other Western officials emphasized the danger from terrorism may increase. Interpol told its 188 member countries to be on full alert following the killing of the al-Qaeda leader in Pakistan.

The Swiss franc rose the most over the past week among the 10 developed-nation currencies in the Bloomberg Correlation- Weighted Currency Indexes, adding 0.8 percent. The euro rose 0.7 percent, while the dollar fell 1 percent.

--With assistance from Lucy Meakin in London. Editors: Greg Storey, Dennis Fitzgerald

To contact the reporter on this story: Catarina Saraiva in New York at asaraiva5@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dave Liedtka at dliedtka@bloomberg.net

The $400 billion assassination of Osama bin Laden

The U.S. has spent more than $400 billion to ultimately seek and assassinate Osama Bin Laden, which was accomplished in Pakistan on May 1, 2011.  This ongoing cost since 2001 as retribution for the attacks of 9/11 on the World Trade Centers, has lasted over a decade, and cost the lives of over 1461 American soldiers.

The ongoing cost of the conflict in Afghanistan, to seek and destroy both Al Queda and Taliban terror groups, can be found at a website which tracks the rolling cost of the war based on Congressional budget appropriations.

After 9/11, many Americans were in favor of our excursion into Afghanistan, much more than President Bush's decision to attack Iraq and remove Saddam Hussein.  However, 10 years later, these same Americans are asking why we are still in occupation of the country, especially since in 2009 there were only believed to be 200 or less Al Queda remaining in Afghanistan.

Although the war in Afghanistan began as a response to al-Qaeda terrorism, there are perhaps fewer than 100 members of the group left in the country, according to a senior U.S. military intelligence official in Kabul who spoke on the condition of anonymity. – CBS News

Besides the monetary and human costs of the war in Afghanistan, several other collateral costs have taken place because of our choices to find and kill Osama Bin Laden.  Pakistan, which is an ally to the US in the war on terror, has had one leader removed, and another candidate for the Presidency assassinated.  In fact, Presidential candidate Benazir Bhutto reported in interviews that not only was Osama Bin Laden dead, but she named the person who killed him in 2007.

Bhutto asserted to David Frost less than two months ago that bin Laden had been murdered by Omar Sheikh, whom the Sunday Times once described as "no ordinary terrorist but a man who has connections that reach high into Pakistan's military and intelligence elite and into the innermost circles" of bin Laden and al-Qaeda. (Watch video starting at 5:33 for mentioned part.) – Jazz from hell blogspot

Government officials will say that the war in Afghanistan was primarily about terror, and finding the groups that helped cause the attacks of 9/11.  However, President George Bush in his memoirs written in 2010 specifically notes that failing to get Osama Bin Laden was a major regret of his term in office.

He regrets what he calls the unfinished business of Osama bin Laden. "I badly wanted to bring bin Laden to justice. The fact that we did not ranks among my great regrets. It certainly wasn't for lack of effort … while we never found the al-Qaida leader, we did force him to change the way he travelled, communicated and operated. That helped us deny him his greatest wish after 9/11: to see America attacked again." – The Guardian UK

The US has spent more than $400 Billion dollars in a decades long conflict in Afghanistan to serve the primary purpose of finding and killing Osama Bin Laden.  While the mission also entailed killing Taliban and Al Queda resistance groups, and re-establishing order through nation building in the region, the symbol for the war was always Osama Bin Laden.  His assassination on May 1st in Pakistan may be an end to a chapter on 9/11, but with the rising turmoil and chaos in the Middle East, and the growing debts of the Federal government, Americans need to ask if it was worth the price in both money and lives for just one man's death.

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By Kenneth Schortgen Jr

• Finance Examiner

As a historian in his primary field of study, and an investor in the real world, Kenneth has a keen perspective on all facets of the financial.